1,544 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Preserving egg yolks

If you're using only the egg whites in a recipe (such as meringues ), you'll need to store the yolks until you're ready to use them again.
There's nothing very complicated about this in principle - all you have to do is chill them, but there are a few pitfalls to be avoided in practice.

8,262 5/5 (35 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Yolk Egg Storage Fridge Cold

Last modified on: June 18^th 2024

For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend

Preserving egg yolks

Intact yolks if possible

Here's something to keep in mind: whole, or intact, yolks keep much better than if they're punctured, or liquid.
This is because the thin film that forms them, the membrane, also protects them from the outside, and prevents them from drying out.
So, as long as possible, keep them in their intact form, even if in your next recipe you'll have to crack them to incorporate them. It's best to do this at the last minute.

The enemy of yolks: dryness

The simplest and most natural way to chill yolks is to put them in a ramekin (or other small container), and place it in the fridge.

jaunes d'oeufs récipient frigo

But there are two small errors here: yolks fear dryness, and as the membrane is very fragile and thin, it will quickly dry out and stick, especially if left in the open air, and even more so if left in the cold, which tends to dry everything out.

Well-preserved yolks

So how do you keep your yolks in good condition?
You just need to do 2 things:

1) Put 1 teaspoon of neutral oil or even water in the bottom of the container before the yolks, then pour in the yolks.

jaunes d’œufs huilés pour le frigo

This will prevent them from drying out on contact with the container and sticking to the bottom.

2) Wrap the container with the yolks at all costs, or use a container with a lid, to isolate them from the air as much as possible.

Don't worry either, if you get one or more yolks punctured, it's no big deal, just a little less easy to handle, as the liquid yolks are very thick and sticky, and you'll have a bit of trouble emptying the container completely without loss (a maryse will be almost indispensable).

jaunes d'oeufs crevés et intacts

To sum up: try to keep your yolks intact, in a filmed or closed container, over a teaspoon of oil or water to prevent them from sticking.

Lasts posts

Butter vs. grease

We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?
December 1^st 20251,4975

Getting out of the fridge early

Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?
November 24^th 20251,2885

Who's making the croissants?

When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...
November 23^th 20251,179

Oven height

When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.
October 8^th 20253,3505

The importance of sieving

In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?
September 3^rd 20257,9533

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

The 3 kinds of meringue

Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...
June 14^th 201365 K4.5

Candied fruits: don't get ripped off

Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.
June 21^th 201768 K 24.2

Toss the salad

When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...
March 8^th 202412 K5

Baking cakes

Where we see that to put a cake in the oven, once the dough is finished and in its mould, there is no hurry and that the cold is your friend.
June 28^th 201945 K4.1

Parsley stems

Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?
July 28^th 20256,164 13